In the construction industry, a sheet metal worker often uses a device for heating a soldering iron, which can easily be carried up a ladder and across a rooftop, hoisted up with a rope (prior to activating the heating element), or handed to or from a coworker. Preferably, such a device should have storage for tools and supplies needed in soldering, require little setup time, and be transportable with tools and supplies in place to eliminate extra trips up and down a ladder or to and fro across a rooftop. Past solutions had used a torch attached to a large propane tank that was heavy and bulky, or liquid fuels that were dangerous. A separate toolbox or bucket was used for carrying tools and supplies.
Prior art shows a number of devices for heating a soldering iron at a residential or commercial construction site, for example atop a roof, as is needed for soldering sheet metal. For portability, some of these devices employ a disposable or refillable propane canister, that is smaller than the type commonly used for barbecue grills. A torch, for heating the soldering iron, is attached to and receives gas from the propane canister. A heating flame, from atmospheric combustion of the propane, forms at the flame end of the torch. Both flame and flame end of the torch are typically partially or fully enclosed in an oven, the oven being constructed of metal with inside insulation. In the various devices, the propane canister may be fully enclosed and adjacent to or beneath the oven, or held in a sleeve that is attached as part of the device, or the canister may reside external to the apparatus, optionally enclosed in a removable sleeve. The soldering iron, the tip of which is being heated by the flame, may rest with its tip inside the heating oven, handle protruding partially or fully outside of the device so that it may be gripped and removed by the worker and with its shaft resting on a horizontal plate with side plates or a pair of vertically mounted plates with or without notches. One device, seen in U.S. Pat. No. 1,680,776 to Fahlberg, includes a storage compartment below the soldering iron rest area, for supplies. Another device, seen in U.S. Pat. No. 4,424,795 to Plessner, has a compartment for storing a soldering iron and a soldering material as well as an open rectangular container used to hold soldering flux.